Jackson Goes on Road for Final Season

Keith Jackson doesn’t want anyone to make a fuss. He’d just as soon retire quietly.

This will be Jackson’s 31st and final season as ABC’s lead college football play-by-play announcer.

“I don’t want a farewell tour or anything like that,” he said Thursday. “I probably should have kept my mouth shut.”

But like it or not, Jackson will have to deal with lavish tributes throughout the season. And he knows that at times they will get to him.

“I’m a pretty crusty old codger, but you back me into a corner and I’ll crack and get emotional just like anyone else,” he said.

It would have been nice for Jackson to have begun his final season by hopping in his car and driving from his home in Sherman Oaks to the Coliseum for Sunday’s Pigskin Classic between USC and Purdue.

But ABC will have him get on a plane and fly to New York for Monday night’s Kickoff Classic between Florida State and Texas A&M.;

“We need him on the prime-time game,” executive producer Steve Anderson said.

The Kickoff Classic kicks off in prime time in the East, but 5 p.m. here. Sunday’s Pigskin Classic begins at 11:30 a.m., with Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson calling the action.

MEANWHILE ON RADIO

The USC radio announcing team of Lee Hamilton, Paul McDonald and sideline reporter John Jackson makes its debut Sunday, and new flagship station XTRA 690 devotes eight hours of programming to the game.

It all begins with “College Football Today,” from 9-10:30 a.m., with John Fricke and former Trojan All-American defensive tackle Tim Ryan, then comes “Trojan Playbook” with Fricke for an hour, then the game. After the game there will be a locker room report and “Trojan Talk” with Fricke and Ryan.

USC has set up a four-station network, including KCTD 1540 in Los Angeles for fans who have trouble picking up XTRA 690 in the Valley areas. There are also stations in Bakersfield, Fresno and Albuquerque.

Former announcers Larry Kahn and Mike Lamb will be missed, but USC officials point to the network and all the promotional programming on game days as well as during the week as real pluses for the new package.

Another positive for USC is that the John Robinson-Mike Garrett feud seems to be subsiding. In a taped interview with Chris Myers on ESPN’s “Up Close” today at 3 p.m., Robinson glosses over the adversarial relationship by calling it “yesterday’s news.”

MORE ON RADIO

UCLA and Dodger flagship station XTRA 1150 has a new program director, Mike Thompson, who comes from a Philadelphia station and earlier helped establish a successful sports-talk station in Dallas, “The Ticket.”

Thompson’s arrival has to be good news. The former program director, Beau Bennett, seemed to be a decent guy but came from a Denver rock station, knew nothing about the L.A. sports scene, knew nothing about talk radio, knew nothing about public relations and let the troops run wild.

Thompson, first off, needs to establish some credibility, accountability and ethics if he hopes this station can make it in a sophisticated market like L.A. And he needs to reign in some of his people.

Talk-show host Joe McDonnell on Wednesday came down too hard on Bobby Hull considering Hull had vehemently denied making the outlandish quotes attributed to him. But McDonnell also had an interesting interview with Mike Piazza, and those kinds of things the station needs, not bravado and amateurish silliness.

BLACK EYE FOR BLACKOUTS

It’s often difficult to explain baseball’s television blackout requirements. The second game of Wednesday day-night doubleheader between the Angels and New York Yankees wasn’t shown here by ESPN because it was on the same satellite feed as that night’s Dodger game. And the Dodger game had to be blacked out because it was on Fox Sports West 2.

But more of an effort could have been made by ESPN and L.A. cable companies to show the Angel game here, particularly because ESPN and the Angels are owned by the same company. The game didn’t have to be blacked out. It could have been shown if cable companies, under a directive from ESPN, would have simply switched feeds. That’s not asking too much, is it?

SHORT WAVES

A decision has been made regarding the Sept. 6 Dodger-San Francisco Giant game, which was originally to be shown by ESPN. But ESPN lost it after trying to move it to ESPN2. The game will now be on Fox Sports West 2. . . . ESPN’s final Sunday night baseball telecast is this weekend, with Mark McGwire and the St. Louis Cardinals facing the Atlanta Braves. . . . ESPN’s “SportsCenter” looks at the home run record chase in a five-part series next week.

Fox is hoping to show the game in which McGwire or Sammy Sosa break Roger Maris’ record. . . . Fox Sports West begins its college football schedule Saturday at 1 p.m. with Fox Sports Net’s coverage of Louisiana Tech and Nebraska in the Eddie Robinson Classic. . . . Fox Sports Net and the Big 12 have announced an agreement on a contract extension through 2007. . . . The USA network’s 100 hours of U.S. Open tennis coverage begins Monday, and the producer is freelancer Harold Hecht Jr., 34, a native of Beverly Hills whose father produced such films as “Marty” and “Separate Tables.” . . . Dodger Spanish-language announcer Jamie Jarrin gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Sept. 14. . . . Irv Kaze’s KIEV show on Fridays has a new time, 7-8 p.m.

IN CLOSING

After Todd Donoho started at Channel 7 in 1989, he was the target of criticism from newspaper columnists and viewers as well who thought he was too cornball. The late Jim Healy called him Dorkoho. But Donoho weathered the storm, fine-tuned his style, developed a following, won over his critics and did tons of community service. So how does Channel 7 reward him? It fires him. And what did Rick Lozano do wrong?

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Aug. 22-23, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Baseball: Dodgers at Atlanta 11 5.8 15 Gymnastics: U.S. Championships, women 4 5.8 11 Boxing: Juan Manuel Marquez-Enrique Jupiter 9 4.0 7 Golf: Sprint International 2 3.8 10 Tennis: RCA Championships 4 3.0 9 Pro basketball: WNBA, Houston at Charlotte 4 2.4 6 Soccer: MLS, Galaxy at New England 7 1.8 5

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Cable Network Rating Pro Football: Exhibition, San Diego at Indianapolis FSW2 2.6 Baseball: Toronto at Angels FSW 1.9 Auto racing: NASCAR’s Goody 500 ESPN 1.3 Tennis: Pilot Pen International ESPN 0.9 Pro basketball: WNBA, Cleveland at Phoenix LIF 0.4 Baseball: New York Yankees at Texas FX 0.4 Baseball: Chicago White Sox at Seattle WGN 0.3 Golf: Northville Long Island Senior Classic ESPN 0.3 Soccer: MLS, Dallas at San Jose ESPN 0.3 Pro beach roller hockey: playoff game ESPN 0.3

Cable Share Pro Football: Exhibition, San Diego at Indianapolis 6 Baseball: Toronto at Angels 4 Auto racing: NASCAR’s Goody 500 3 Tennis: Pilot Pen International 3 Pro basketball: WNBA, Cleveland at Phoenix 1 Baseball: New York Yankees at Texas 1 Baseball: Chicago White Sox at Seattle 1 Golf: Northville Long Island Senior Classic 1 Soccer: MLS, Dallas at San Jose 1 Pro beach roller hockey: playoff game 1

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro football: Exhibition, Miami at San Francisco 11 7.8 18 Golf: Sprint International 2 4.4 11 Gymnastics: U.S. Championships, women 4 4.3 8 Tennis: Pilot Pen International 2 1.7 5 Tennis: RCA Championships 4 1.6 4 Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: Dodgers at Atlanta ESPN 2.9 6 Baseball: Little League World Series, Game 2 ESPN2 0.7 2 Baseball: Houston at Chicago White Sox WGN 0.6 1 Baseball: Little League World Series, Game 1 ESPN2 0.5 1 Auto racing: NASCAR Trucks, Lund Look 275K TNN 0.5 1 Beach Volleyball: AVP tournament at Del Mar FSW 0.5 1 Golf: Northville Long Island Senior Classic ESPN 0.5 1 Horse racing: Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga ESPN 0.1 0

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: Pro football: Exhibition, Green Bay at Denver, Monday, Ch. 7, 8.4, 16; Exhibition, Tampa Bay at Oakland, Ch. 2, 4.5, 8. Baseball: Angels at New York Yankees, Monday, Ch. 9, 4.0, 8; Tuesday, Ch. 9, 6.6, 13.

Note: Each rating point represents 50,092 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.